Feature

It seems like whenever you open the newspaper these days, either the city of Columbus, State of Ohio or Jobs Ohio is giving in to developers, major corporations and institutions that are swimming in cash to help fatten their profit margins. And at a time when our city income revenue is at a premium, yet another local entity with political influence, power and money is asking for charity. It’s bad enough that this City Council has given away millions in city income tax revenues, revenues that make up nearly 80% of our general funds budget to the likes of Ohio Health, Root Insurance, CoverMyMeds, Nationwide Insurance, Huntington Bank, The OSU Wexner Medical Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and U.S. Bank.

The Columbus Dispatch is suffering a four-year free-fall in circulation/readership, according to documents obtained exclusively from the Alliance for Audited Media.

The Columbus market is rapidly becoming a news desert, that is a place where news readership is dwindling and where increasing numbers of residents are either uninformed or poorly informed about their communities, the state, the United States and other nations.

What people know about the world around them is increasingly random via social media such as Facebook and websites that often lack verification and editing. This may be affecting our politics adversely as people are increasingly motivated by imagery and personality cults rather than by facts, reasoning and science.

Until around 2006, Ohio's government and its political leaders were held accountable by the major Ohio daily newspapers, who often would ardently investigate wrong-doing. The Coingate scandal, where Ohio taxpapers' money was invested in rare coins, led by the Toledo Blade and the Dispatch, resulted in Democrats winning all but one state administrative office and control of the Ohio House.

The Columbus Dispatch is suffering a four-year free-fall in circulation/readership, according to documents obtained exclusively from the Alliance for Audited Media.

The Columbus market is rapidly becoming a news desert, that is a place where news readership is dwindling and where increasing numbers of residents are either uninformed or poorly informed about their communities, the state, the United States and other nations.

What people know about the world around them is increasingly random via social media such as Facebook and websites that often lack verification and editing. This may be affecting our politics adversely as people are increasingly motivated by imagery and personality cults rather than by facts, reasoning and science.

Until around 2006, Ohio's government and its political leaders were held accountable by the major Ohio daily newspapers, who often would ardently investigate wrong-doing. The Coingate scandal, where Ohio taxpapers' money was invested in rare coins, led by the Toledo Blade and the Dispatch, resulted in Democrats winning all but one state administrative office and control of the Ohio House.

November is Native American Heritage Month and November 26th is Native American Heritage Day. For some Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.
 

This past Spring Equinox, former First Lady of Ohio, Hope Taft, set off on foot from southwest Ohio for 160 miles over back roads visiting the state’s most noteworthy Native American earthworks, which are on the threshold of becoming World Heritage sites as determined by the United Nations.

If successful, this places Ohio’s earthworks with Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza and makes them the state’s first World Heritage designation. 

Yet well into the 21st century, white Christian men, Mormons in particular, are still seeking to re-write and even erase Native American history in “Ohi:yo,” which is Iroquois for “the great river” and the inspiration for “Ohio.”

“Earlier this afternoon, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty of killing two men in Kenosha, Wisconsin during last year’s racial justice protests, mere days after the shooting of Jacob Blake. This verdict represents the latest in a disappointing trend in which the American judicial system preferences white agency at the expense of true equity. It is yet another instance demonstrating the longstanding issues of structural racism and inherent bias that inform the operation of this nation. A nation where liberty and justice purportedly for all is shown to be false and hypocritical.
 

Those who have been victimized for centuries by these structures are again forced to bear the burden. America will not move in the direction of becoming the most just version herself if we are not willing to be honest about her misgivings. The verdict that was passed in Wisconsin is not a sign of justice, nor is it a representation of the standards that we should hold our judicial system to. This moment is not one of fairness but of pain for our communities. This is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of ethics. 
 

As a medical virologist for over 30 years, I and many of my colleagues have been amazed what we have heard about the COVID-19 vaccine and natural immunity after infection by the virus that causes COVID-19, called SARS-CoV2. So much clear-cut information is known about this disease process, yet policies are being made that ignore this information. So, let’s discuss these facts in simple terms. Here are the six basic facts of viral immunity, regardless of the virus:

Cannabis Crossroads. Ohio history. New bills. Decrim successes.  

Selected bites of fresh cannabis news sliced from the headlines, with a legislative flavor and sweet Ohio twist. Sources are linked.

Mary Jane’s Library:

As a published author of scholarly and popular writing for more than 50 years, I expect criticism. I’ve received my fair share. But never have my words been described as “trash,” and never have I been criticized with so much disingenuousness, misrepresentation, illogic, and ignorance of the issues at stake. Nowhere do Downing and Oliphint acknowledge that they are throwing stones at a 600-word opinion essay that is by definition limited. No one but Downing and I know that July 26 began with a cordial exchange of emails that were complimentary and, I thought, constructive. I was initiating a conversation with him and other media to promote more responsible, constructive criticism of Columbus and its institutions. I was completely surprised when this rant arrived in my inbox several hours later. 

Editor's Note: This article is in no way intended to trivialize the death of Chase Meola. We send our condolences to his friends and family and understand his murder and other campus crimes are critical issues that must be addressed. We appreciate the feedback from readers pointing out the misspelling of his name and that has been fixed.

If you ask OSU parents or students, or OSU itself on certain days of the week, you will be told that The Ohio State University, especially the off-campus University District, is having a crisis in crime and violence. Articles in the Columbus Dispatch and The Lantern student newspaper support that impression without quite saying so or presenting evidence.  

In the past two months, the state of Ohio actively retreated from its commitment to promote equity and combat racism in its schools. The reactionary march backward constitutes a withdrawal from constitutional principles, American social commitments, historical trends since at least 1954, and very likely its own laws. The partners in this reactionary dance are the right-wing, Republican-dominated state legislature; Attorney General Dave Yost; Gov. Mike DeWine; and the State Board of Education. I have written about the intertwined issues elsewhere.